TU B'SHEVAT(For an overview of the calendar return to the main tab)

Long before Vice-President Gore penned An Inconvenient Truth, before Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, the Torah told us that we were connected to the earth and the earth was ours to tend and care for. And Godsaid, Let us makemanin our imageafter our likenessand let them have dominionover the fishof the seaand over the fowlof the airand over the cattleand over all the earthand over every thingthat creepsupon the earth…(Gen.1:26). (See Environment or V'haya Im Sh'moa: An Environmental View in my blog entries for a discussion of dominion.)The Torah, in the next chapter, mitigates the attitude that humanity has the right to use the earth resources without regard to the consequences. “And God took man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to guard it.”(Gen.2:15). Tu B’Shevat is a holiday that reminds us of the strong ties between the People of Israel and the Land of Israel. As you read on the general information page for Jewish Holiday, the holidays are aligned with the seasons of Eretz Israel, the land of Israel. The celebration of Eretz Yisrael goes hand in hand with Am Yisrael, the people of Israel. The re-establishment of the people of Israel could only have occurred within the land of Israel because Etz Chyyim, the tree of life, is rooted in Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. The Torah, sometimes called Etz Chyyim, is replete with laws concerning the land and trees, i.e., “When you come to the Land, plant all manner of edible trees…” Lev. 19:23. Yet, the holiday of Tu B’Shevat is not derived from Torah but from Talmud, a Tractate in Rosh Hashanah which delineates the four new years. These can be thought of as four times for tithing. · The first of Nissan is the new year for the kings. It established the counting of the years of their reign, the dating of documents and the giving of the half-shekel to the Temple sacrifices. · The first of Elul is the tithing of animals. · The first of Tishrei which we celebrate as Rosh Hashanah, the calendar new year, was the time for tithing to the Kohanim (priests) and Levites. It is also used to configure sabbatical and jubilee years. And,· “On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree according to the opinion of Beit (house of) Shammai. However, Beit Hillel says, it is on the fifteenth of (Shevat).” Mishna Rosh Hashanah 1:1. In Hebrew, every letter also has a numeric value. For Tu, tet (9) plus vuv ( 6 ) = 15. Thus, Tu B’Shevat is the 15th in the Hebrew month of Shevat. Ah, so now you know, we follow the opinion of Beit Hillel. And what of the tithing? When a tree is planted, for the first three years, the fruit is left alone. On the fourth year, a tenth is tithed. On the fifth year, the fruit is for use. “A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey”. Deut. 8:8. after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the holiday became less important. Tithing to the Temple was irrelevant. The people were scattered throughout many lands so why celebrate the birthday of the trees in one land? Still, the chanting of psalms and the eating of fruits persisted and eventually other customs grew up around this holiday adapting it to each generation. Perhaps the most dramatic and lingering adaptation was the development of the Tu B’Shevat seder by the Kabbalists of Tzfat of the 16th century. This combined the process of the Passover seder with the concepts of the teachings of the sefirot. For the past forty years, and more definitively the past 20 years, climate change has taken center stage in our celebrations. Concerns over deforestation and war tactics have also been part of conversations and creative seders. Today Tu B’Shevat is a festive holiday in Israel. Trees are planted by Israelis and many by non-Israelis, particularly through Jewish National Fund. Hazon, Mazon and numerous other food awareness organizations have taken up the holiday as well as it’s counterpart four months down the road, Shavuot. Now’s the time: go climb a tree, walk the land and appreciate each step, relish a piece of fruit, and happy planting. Chag Sah-may-ach P.S. remember there is no ‘ch’ in Hebrew – it is the sound of clearing the back of your throat of pronounced like the ‘ch’ in Bach.